


clear skies ahead

by curiositykilled



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Deity Au, Fluff, M/M, Nature Magic, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 13:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16041485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiositykilled/pseuds/curiositykilled
Summary: It was easy to love him. He was beautiful and strong and kind. Even after everything that had happened to him, he still greeted the dawn with a smile and placed each star in the sky with a gentle touch.Before – before they were gods, before they were mantled with these guardianships – he had had a lover on Earth. The story had already tangled into myth and Lance knew little about what was true and what was story. He knew it was tragic. He knew Shiro still looked to the horizon sometimes, as if seeking a returning silhouette.But knowing he was neither the first nor the only to love him didn’t make Lance love Shiro any less.





	clear skies ahead

            It was easy to love him. He was beautiful and strong and kind. Even after everything that had happened to him, he still greeted the dawn with a smile and placed each star in the sky with a gentle touch.

            Before – before they were gods, before they were mantled with these guardianships – he had had a lover on Earth. The story had already tangled into myth and Lance knew little about what was true and what was story. He knew it was tragic. He knew Shiro still looked to the horizon sometimes, as if seeking a returning silhouette.             

            But knowing he was neither the first nor the only to love him didn’t make Lance love Shiro any less.

            “Why don’t you just talk to him?” Hunk suggested.

            “I do talk to him,” Lance protested, “almost every day. You know how he likes to walk along with the sunset.”

             It was his favorite time of day, not that he was going to admit that here.

            He was flopped on his belly in the surf, where the waves rushed up in lacey foam against the sand. Pidge and Hunk were both crouched by a tree that appeared to be halfway towards giving up, and Allura waded along with two little reef sharks a few feet away.

            “Right,” Pidge said. “And that has nothing to do with you always coming out to see him.”

             “Hey,” Lance objected, bristling. “I’m not pestering him! I asked.”

            Out in the water, Allura snorted. A bird had come to perch on her shoulder, long white tail trailing down her back. She ran a finger over its blue crest in greeting.

            “I think Pidge meant rather the opposite, Lance,” she remarked.

            Giving the bird a last stroke, she sent it soaring back up into the air and waded over to where Lance lies. She dropped down beside him to lean back on her hands and stretch her legs out in the water.

            “Yeah, buddy,” Hunk said, “you’re smarter than that.”

            Lance scowled, dropping his chin down on his folded arms.

            “I don’t know what you mean,” he grumbled.

            Allura reached over to ruffle his hair, knocking his coronet askew. The seashells and pearls slipped down to hang over one ear, and he reached up quickly to correct it. 

            “Come on,” Hunk said. “Shiro always comes to the ocean for the sunset? He talks to you everyday? You know there’s a lot more world than that for him to just pick this by random.”

            “The ocean makes up most the world,” Lance objected, “and the sunset is prettiest at sea.”

            “Lance,” Hunk chided.

            Lance harrumphed and nestled his chin further into his folded arms. He wasn’t intentionally being obtuse, but what they were implying was beyond impossible. Shiro was a nice guy and even, Lance could say with some confidence, his friend, but that didn’t mean Shiro was interested in him.

            Shiro was – was incredible. The guardian of space and sky, he was strong and brave and kind. He was the kind of person everyone looked up to, everyone loved.

            Lance…wasn’t. He was a younger guardian, still learning his role and often making mistakes. He earned reprimands, not reverence.

            “You guys are crazy,” he finally said.

            “And you’re being a dumbass,” Pidge retorted.

            She’d paused in helping the tree to square off towards Lance, hands on her hip. Being the shortest of the guardians didn’t make her any less imposing now as she scowled down at him.

            “Look, whether or not Shiro likes you back doesn’t really matter,” she said. “He’s your friend and deserves the truth. And worst case scenario, you’ll get one of his patented Apology Faces and a speech that leaves you feeling like you gave him a gift instead.”

            Lance paused partway to refuting her. That was probably actually true. He closed his mouth with a little click. Beside him, Allura laughed and wiggled her toes into the sand.

             “No comeback?” she teased.

            Eloquent as ever, Lance retorted by sending a wave up to douse Allura. Soaking and laughing, she shoved him bodily into the tide, and the conversation was forgotten as they fell into a rowdy water fight. Between Lance’s dominion over the water and Allura’s over the living things within and above it, it was nearly fair.

            Pidge and Hunk finished up their work bolstering the little sapling, and soon it was an all out brawl. By the time they fell, laughing, to the ground, there was mud smeared on all their faces and an otter had somehow wrapped itself over Hunk’s shoulder. A leafy vine was draped over Lance’s head and with a flick of her hand, Pidge reshaped it into a little circlet. Lance beamed.

            “Do I even want to know?”

            They looked up with a collective grin and laugh to find Keith eyeing them from further up the shore. Unlike the rest of them, his red and black clothes were perfectly dry, and he watched them with open confusion.

            “Lance was being foolish,” Allura answered, chipper.

            “Surprise,” Keith muttered, picking his way towards them across the sand.

            For that, Lance sent a wash of saltwater at him. Keith dodged it easily enough but didn’t retaliate as he sat down on one of the few dry spots near the others.

            “Where’s Shiro?” Pidge asked.

            “There’s a storm in the Pacific,” Keith answered. “Guess he’s nudging it away from cities.”

            Lance perked up immediately, the cheer disappearing into concern. Tropical storms and hurricanes were nearly as much his domain as Shiro’s.

            “Does he need help?” he asked.

            Keith waved it off.

            “No, it’s still pretty small,” he answered. “It’s just Shiro being cautious. 

            Lance relaxed a little, settling back into the tide. He’d check on it later, but he trusted Shiro to handle himself.

            “So,” Keith said, “why was Lance being dumb this time?”

            The danger of the situation suddenly hit Lance like a bolt to the chest. Keith was Shiro’s best friend and closest confidante; if anyone would know how Shiro felt, it was him.

             “Nothing!” he blurted out.

             An eyebrow rose.

             “Nothing to do with your crush on Shiro?” Keith guessed.

             “Seriously?”

             Lance groaned and slumped further down. Was nothing secret among them? Hunk patted his head gently.

            “Does Shiro know?” Lance whined, voice muffled by his arms.

            This time, Keith groaned in exasperation.

            “I wish,” he complained.

            Lance froze. _What?_ He lifted his head to stare at Keith. Keith met his gaze and shrugged. One of Pidge’s vines had curled beside him, drawn by his warmth and radiant energy.

            “Just saying,” Keith said without actually explaining anything. “You should talk to him.”

            By now, Lance’s face was as hot as if it was sunburnt, and he could only guess at the wicked blush over his cheeks. None of this made sense, and he didn’t even know how to respond.

            “Anyway, did you still want to check on Australia, Allura?” Keith asked.

            She perked up immediately, hopping to her feet as if she hadn’t just been knee-deep in a mud fight. Even with dirt streaked across her face and leaves caught in her hair, she still had the grace and poise of a princess. She offered her hand and hauled Keith up to his feet.

            “Yes!” she said. “Oh, I can’t believe I’d forgotten.”

            With that, the two were off, and as they disappeared, Pidge and Hunk stood as well.

            “It’s about sunset, bud,” Hunk pointed out mildly.

            “Oh!” Lance jolted upright, turning immediately to the sky.

             Sure enough, the sky was darkening from the bright blue of afternoon to the hazy orange of dusk. Hunk grinned. 

            “Go see your man, lover boy,” Pidge teased.

            Lance grinned but didn’t bother correcting her. If he wanted to get to his and Shiro’s usual spot, he needed to leave now.

            He swam towards the horizon, joined intermittently by dolphins and the occasional seabird. Only when he was nearly there did he pause to make sure he had wiped off all the mud and sand from earlier. Satisfied, he took a deep breath and swam the few strokes left.

            Shiro was there when he arrived, sitting cross-legged on a wisp of fog that hung low over the sea. He looked up immediately, a smile brightening his face. Already, the sky had deepened into saturated strokes of gold and pink and purple. The colors played over the water like a kaleidoscope, sparkling in the peaks of the waves. 

            “Hey, Lance,” he greeted. “I wasn’t sure you were coming.”

            “Sorry,” Lance said, hooking his elbows on the edge of the cloud. “Got hung up with the others.”

            His arms sunk into the fog before it firmed up beneath him. He grinned, knowing that was Shiro’s doing.

            “I thought I saw Pidge’s handiwork,” Shiro replied. “It’s nice.”

            A little brush of wind ruffled the leafy circlet still crowning Lance’s head, and he flushed. He’d forgotten he still wore that overtop his own. A hand reached up to touch it, a tactile reminder that it was there.

            “She does all my accessories,” he joked with a little grin. “Keith said you were dealing with a storm.”

             Shiro hummed, stretching out his legs so that his feet brushed the ocean surface.

            “Just a little one,” he affirmed. “But you know how the eastern coasts have been getting beaten up recently.”

            Lance smiled at that. It was about the most “Shiro” an answer he could have received.

            “You know you don’t have to handle those on your own, right?” he checked.

            Shiro looked down at him with a smile.

            “I know I can count on you, Lance,” he said. “But it really was a little one.”

            “If you’re sure, Shiro the Hero,” Lance teased.

            He turned his gaze to the sky, in part to hide the pleased smile he knew was there from Shiro’s comment. The colors were the same vibrant hues as they’d been when he arrived, and it almost seemed like the sunset itself had slowed down to hang its brilliant canopy suspended over the world for a few extra minutes.

            “It’s a beautiful sunset,” he remarked. 

            “You like it?” Shiro asked.

             Lance could hear him resituating himself, and he felt Shiro’s arm brush against his own. When he glanced over, Shiro had scooted closer so that his legs dangled off the edge of the cloud and he had nearly the same view as Lance.

            “Yeah,” Lance affirmed. “But I thought we weren’t supposed to use our powers to interfere with nature unless it was necessary.”

             Shiro flushed immediately, a sheepish grin curling up his lips and crinkling his scar as he rubbed the back of his neck.

            “Well,” he hedged, “I mean, it’s not like it’s doing any harm, really.”

            “Ha!” Lance exclaimed, pushing himself up from the water. “So you _are_ slowing down the sunset!”

            Shiro’s face went briefly slack with surprise, his hand freezing on his neck. He groaned and dropped his head back. Lance beamed, settling back down into the water with his chin resting on his hand.

            “It’s just…I really like spending time with you, Lance,” Shiro admitted. “So I thought…”

            He trailed off as if embarrassed and dropped his hand to his lap.

            “Sorry,” he said, “it was dumb. I’ll put it back.”

            Lance tugged his bottom lip in under his teeth. _Here goes nothing,_ he thought.

            “Shiro, I really like spending time with you, too,” he said, “but you don’t need to draw out the sunset for me.”

            He reached up to thread his fingers through Shiro’s, ready at any moment to let go. Shiro’s hand flexed briefly before closing gently over Lance’s. There was still a pink blush over his cheeks, nearly the color of his scar, but he looked a little less unsure now. 

            “In that case, this is a really good spot for stargazing,” Shiro said. “If you want.”

            Lance grinned. 

            “There’s no place I’d rather be,” he answered.

             Tension he hadn’t noticed before swept out of Shiro’s shoulders, making him look somehow younger and lighter. He offered a hand to help pull Lance up onto the cloud, and it took a couple minutes for them to settle in anew. Lance wound up leaning against Shiro’s side, their fingers still intertwined.

            The sunset had resumed at its ordinary pace, and as they watched, the dark of night bled downwards toward the horizon. With it came the stars, like saltspray across the sky.

             As they became apparent, Shiro began listing the constellations. His voice was a soft murmur and a low rumble where Lance leaned against his ribs. He could feel the gentle reverberations through him like distant thunder, but the way Shiro’s eyes lit up as he told the stories of the stars was anything but stormy.

             Leaning his head on Shiro’s shoulder, Lance thought he might have a new favorite time of day after all.

 

**Author's Note:**

> this is literally pure cheese
> 
> Shiro - space/sky  
> Lance - ocean/water  
> Keith - fire/energy  
> Pidge - plants/nature  
> Hunk - earth/minerals  
> Allura - life


End file.
